Alternate children
by Tofy-dei
Summary: Danny has had his hands full with ghosts, but who are this new young spirirts and why are they showing no interest in fighting him? In fact... why are they attacking one another? Join Team Phantom as they try to unveil the truth behind this kids and a sinister evil lurks in the dark. Pre PP, OCs, humor, a little angst, romance and suspence.
1. Chapter 1

Clockwork and another ghost watched the time stream. In it, they were able to see a mean looking ghost laughing maniacly over the steaming body of Danny Phantom.

-You have to stop this, young one. Daniel cannot lose to that monster.

-Don't think I don't know that, gramps. That nutjob is my problem, not his.

-You will have to be careful. The Daniel in the past must not know who you really are.

-As if the Daniel in this time had a clue anyway. He keeps mixing me up with whatshisname.

-... whatshis... nevermind that. Here.-The master of time handed him a talisman- Make sure you don't get

-Separated from it, I know, I know. I've been working for you for years, old man.

The older ghost glared at the youngling, while he turned into his child form. The rude ghost grabbed the talisman and jumped into the looking glass, desappearing from existence.

-Take care, boy. And don't be too hard on your siblings.

Clockwork watched on into the glass, seeing his dark haired employee drop onto a street and casually walking away with his hands in the pockets of his ragged jeans.

Danny flew as fast as he could. Today was certainly not his day. His ghost sence was activating nonstop, a couple of times even in front of his parents. But even so, he hadn´t been in a fight all day. How, you ask? Simple! These ghosts were fighting amongst themselves! The world had gone crazy overnight. The ghost were wierd, too. They seemed to be like twelve and they kinda looked familiar, only not quite. He had had several feelings of deja vu in the last 3 hours. Right now? He was trying to save unsuspecting civilians from the falling debris and missed attacks. These kids didn't care who they hurt! Danny himself had been on the recieving end of some of those blasts.

One of the boys had blue skin, a blue flaming mawhawk with some hair on the sides, black tattered leather pants, a black muscle shirt, a skull pendant and some sort of star tattoo on his left cheek, while the other was a freckled, green skinned boy with white messy short hair, pointy ears, blue bat wings and a back and white medieval outfit.

-Just give up, you lizard! This is my realm!

-Your realm?! Are you kidding?! If you think I'll give up my existence just because you claimed it, dream on, musician wannabe!

The 'lizard' threw a fireball straight at the musicboy, hitting his keytar and smashing it to pieces. Two pairs of glowing green eyes crossed and glared at each other, while danny glanced from one to the other nervously. He did not want to fight two new oponents at the same time, but he couldn´t wait for them to hurt somebody in an attempt to bring the other down.

-Oh, crud! I wish those two weren't fighting!

-So you have wished it...

Danny turned in a snap. That was deffinitely NOT Desiree's voice. And the little girl behind him smiling sweetly was deffinitely not Desiree either. True, she had black hair and green skin, but her eyes were glowing green too, part of her hair was in a bun, she was wearing a brown cape, red jewelry and to top it all off, she looked to be twelve. The little girl raised her hands, conjuring some sort of magic and Danny started to freak.

-...So shall it be!

Her magic hit both ghostly boys dead on, given the fact that they had not expected her to show up, making them disappear. Danny stared. Had this little girl just helped him? He heard her giggle and glanced behind, seeing her sweet smile turn somewhat wicked.

-Jezzy: one. Garry and Jimmy: ZERO.

And with that she vanished. Danny blinked a couple of times. What the fudge was going on here?! He shook his head and started his flight back to school. He couldn't believe it wasn't noon yet.

Jimmy landed forcefully on some street. He shook his head, his flaming blue hair reshaping into his usual mawhawk. He glanced down at his instrument once he got his bearings and groaned. It was absolutely shattered. That damn lizard boy, Garry or whatever his name was, was going to pay. He heard a chuckle behind his back and jumped to his feet. There, in the shadows, stood a crimson ghost. His body was bent in the oddest shape and his hollow eyes looked like they could swallow the world. His feral grin had elongated shark teeth and dripped some kind of black goo from between them. Jimmy shivered at the sight, sticking his hands in the front pockets of his pants.

-Oh, it's just you. You are as creepy as oblivion, you know that?

-Hello to you too, James. How was your encounter?

-That lizard kid crushed my keytar! How am I supposed to fight now?!

-Oh, do not worry, young artist. I have another keytar right here. It even has some upgrades.

The ghostly thing handed a crimson instrument to the young ghost, him eyeing the object suspiciously. He glanced back up toward the crimson being and frowned.

-I still don't get why you're helping me, whatever your name is.

-Worry not about that, little rocker.

-It´s punk.

-Whatever. And I already told you my name, did I not?

-Yeah, but I thought for sure I'd never see you again, so I didn't bother remembering it.

The hollow eyes glared at the blue kid.

-Remember it, James. For my name is the most important name you'll ever hear. Void.

Jimmy frowned as Void phased away. This creep was wierd, alright, even though he gave him free stuff to fight with. No, that was one of the main reasons. His mom always said, nothing comes for free, so what price was he paying? A shudder made its way up his spine and out his mouth in the form of freezing blue vapors, making him widen his eyes and turn around quickly. There, floating in midair, stood a white skinned girl. Well, ghost. Her green hair was cut short, giving her the look of a pixie, and the red trench coat she had contrasted nicely with it. She had a mole under her right green eye and a leather choker. She was also wearing black shorts and ragged nylon stockings, along with biker goggles like a bandana. Quite the look for a twelve year old, if you asked Jimmy.

-Who are you and what do you want?

-My name's Sally. I'm here to protect my future from jerks like you, impostor.

Jimmy glared. So this chick was like lizard boy, huh? Well! He had no problem kicking a girl's ass if she came asking for it. He turned around, striking the keys of his new instrument, sending a powerful soundwave like a punch towards his adversary, whose eyes widened and recieved the attack dead on. Jimmy smirked. This would be very easy.

Garret crashed into a tree and fell face first against the ground. He was so not having a good day. First there was the crazy fearless damsel with the violet eyes, Tamara, if he remembered correctly. Then he had had to fight off a sissy but persistent lad called Tomas and when that had not proven itself bad enough, this blue kid had shown up. He had been a worthy rival, Garry had to admit. But what exactly had happened? He could not recall the end of that fight.

He spread his wings to try and fly to a secure location, only to gasp in pain. He turned to inspect the appendages and saw a nasty gash on one of them. So much for flying... perhaps that man, Void, could give him a hand with his wounds, though he had proved to be hard to find. With that in mind, the green skinned boy turned intangible and invisible and started walking around, looking for the man that had put him there.


	2. Chapter 2

-I'm telling you, guys. This ghosts are fighting against each other, meaning, I´m not the one fighting!

-Stop lying to us, Danny. You're even more hurt than after an encounter with Skulker.

-I'm serious! All these injuries are from trying to protect bystanders, Sam!

Tucker just watched as the goth bandaged their friend's torso. A ghostly fireball to the back had damaged it pretty badly. If what Danny said was true, then protecting innocent victims was way harder and dangerous than fighting the ghosts head on. Which kinda made sence actually, considering the fact that in a fight you dodged attacks and if you were protecting, you'd recieve the attacks to get people out of harms way. Sam had finished wrapping the halfa up and he was currently putting on his shirt.

-What are you going to do, Danny?

-I don't know, Tuck. I have to stop a fight and find out what the problem is. Some are even keeping a score. As far as I know, there are three. One girl who resembles Desiree, her name is Jezzy or something, a boy with blue flaming hair and a reptilian based ghost, one of them is Jimmy and the other is Garry.

-Who's who?

-I don't know! That girl, Jezzy knew their names.

Sam thought about it for a couple of seconds. Maybe, if they contacted her, she would be able to explain. Tucker snorted.

-What is it, dude?

-They all got 5 letter names with a double consonant in the middle. Kinda like you, Danny.

The other two stared. Really?! That's what he noticed? Sam smacked him over the head and explained her plan. They needed to lure this girl out in the open somehow and if Desiree was anything to go by, then she knew exactly where to find her.

Jezzy gazed at the people making wishes by the fountain. Back home, people didn't make wishes anymore. She sighed, granting a small wish here, another small one there, letting a little kid find his cat and things of the sort. Of course, she did not forsee a fourteen year old trio walk up to the fountain, tossing a coin and the white guy with black hair saying ''I wish Jezzy would come forth.'' She gasped as the involuntary magic dragged her right in front of this trio. They knew her name? How?! Then she noticed. The guy that had made the wish was Danny Phantom. Or Fenton, whatever!

-Oh, heeeey! What's up, doc? Here to make a wish?

-Drop the act, Jezzy. We want to know what's up.

-Yeah. Start off with who you are.-Said the goth chick.

-Jezebel, not that it really matters, everyone just calls me Jezzy. And I'm really sorry, but I'm not supposed to tell. Only that I have to defeat all those impostors to secure my future.

-Impostors?

A sudden plasma ray hit Jezebel, sending her flying against a building. The trio turned quickly to look at the agressor, only to see an african american twelve year old girl with blue eyes holding something that looked a lot like a Fenton gun.

-You are one of the impostors, so play nice and leave quietly.

The trio watched stunned as the little girl shot Jezzy repeatedly, the latter dodging the attacks and retaliating with plasma rays of her own. The human girl wore neon green glasses, rose shaped earrings, an orange chinese blouse, thick pigtails at the base of her neck and denim capris, along with white tennis shoes. She also had a katana strapped to her back.

Jezzy landed face first and rolled a couple of feet. With a glare, she lifted her head and floated away from the ground.

-Stop shadowing me, Ginny! I told you I wouldn't fight humans!

-Well, then it's a good thing I'm not.

At those words, the girl identified as Ginny unsheathed her katana, only it had no blade, and conjured blue ectoplasm to create an ecto-ice blade, her eyes taking an icy glow. Both girls gave battlecries as they pounced on each other.

The trio watched awestruck as the fight continued until Danny had had enough. He ericted an ice wall between the two girls, preventing them from fighting anymore. The twelve year olds turned shocked to look at him and upon silently deciding that they should not be caught, both girls fled. The halfa groaned displeased. In the end, they had gotten nowhere. The goth put her hand on his shoulder and motioned for them to go back. They split ways to go to their respective homes and danny walked silently down the road.

This situation was driving him insane. Now there were humanoid ghosts involved? He walked up the steps of Fenton Works, only to gasp icy breath upon grasping the handle. He opened the door quickly, fearing the worst scenario and was met with his family chatting happily with a stranger. Danny's eyes widened. The young man was around seventeen. He had pale skin, raven short hair and a stunning pair of blue eyes. He wore a white tank top along with ragged blue jeans and a pair of studded leather wristbands. All in all, he looked like an older version of Danny with minor differences.

Maddie turned to look at him and smiled.

-Danny! Good to see you're back! This is William, he's an orphan searching for his family and thinks we may be related. What do you think?

His parents were smiling. They hadn't even realised this guy was a ghost. Then again, neither had Jazz. She just sat there, eyeing the newcomer with curiosity. But Danny knew better. He glared at the guy. Few ghosts had had the guts to actually mess with his family and he had never let any of them get away with their plans. This guy was no different. Of course, he'd need proof that they weren't in fact related to get his parents to kick the guy out. He could see how Jack had practically accepted the intruder as a second son already. Even offering him fudge.

The guy watched him silently with a straight face. He stood slowly, frowning as he got closer until he stood directly in front of Danny. His lips formed a thin line as he inspected the face of the young halfa and hummed.

-Honestly, aunt Maddie, I don't see the resemblance you mentioned earlier.

Danny's eyes widened. While his family couldn't see this guys face, a creepy grin had taken over it, mocking Danny, taunting him, saying that there was nothing he could do to stop him. His face went back to being straight and he turned around.

-Are you sure I can stay? I mean, I'm not really sure we're related in the end. The archive with my birth certificate burned down, after all. And I wouldn't want to be a bother.

-Nonsense!-said Jack's booming voice.- Danny would love to share his bedroom with you!

His eyes almost fell from their sockets. His room?! Why did he have to?! His dad pushed him up the stairs, telling him to get the extra mattress from the emergency ops center and before he knew it, they were already in the NASA decorated room. The younger teenager glared at the older one and got on guard.

-I don't know who you are, but you are deffinitely not human and therefore, not related to me. Who are you and what do you want?

-No beating around the bush, heh? Don't worry. I'm on your side. Clockwork sent me. Sadly, that's all I'm allowed to tell.

-Why do you look so suspitious, then?

The older teen blinked a couple of times. His eyebrows furrowed and he blatantly stared at the younger boy.

-You do realise we look almost exactly the same, right?

-I have learnt not to trust people who look like me.

Now the guy was gaping at him. Did he have ghost shaped buggers or something?! ''William'' whistled and made some comment about low self esteem under his breath. LOW SELF ESTEEM?! Let's check the record! People like him: Vlad, not to be trusted. Dan, to be feared and avoided. Dani, she betrayed him before finally seeing reason. Ergo: do not trust people who look like you or have the same powers as you until they prove their allegiance. Danny watched as William dropped himself on his bed.

-As I already said, I'm on your side. Take it or leave it, but let me warn you: Even if I weren't, you wouldn't be able to stop me, so don't even try.

-What do you intend to do, huh?-Will looked up.

-There have been intruders to your timestream. I'm here to collect them without causing too much of a ruckus.

Then it all clicked in Danny's head. The twelve year olds. The ones keeping a score. The ones he had never seen before but seemed so familiar. They must be the children of the ghosts he was fighting now. But how had they gotten here and why? He heard the older ghost chuckle.

-Don't try to guess, you never will.-He sat up.- Just leave them to me and keep living your regular life.

Sure, that took a burden from him. Leave an unknown ghost who _claimed_ to be Clockwork's employee handle a bunch on irresponsible ghostly kids who were all over Amity Park causing mayhem. NOT. This guy was way to calm. He couldn't be taking his mission (if he even had one) seriously. In fact...

-There's one thing I still don't get.

-What is that?

-Why are you in my house?

-Oh! There's absolutely no way I'm gonna sleep on the street.

Danny glared. Oh, he had to be kidding.


	3. Chapter 3

Danny was beyond pissed. The guy who was ''sent'' by Clockwork had done nothing to stop the little troublemakers yet. In fact, Danny had had to break a fight amongst two humanlies. That's what they had decided to call them. There were 4 ghosts that glowed, albeit less than a normal ghost. Ghostlies. And there were 3 who didn't glow at all. The only thing that did were their eyes and their weapons when they were using power. Humanlies. How had they found this last kids? Well!

 **Flashback**

Danny, Sam and Tucker were spending time at the mall. The halfa had just told them about ''William'' and had been expecting an opinion, when a loud crashing noice and an explotion had claimed everyone's attention. Smoke was coming out of one of the stores and people were running away from inside it. The local superhero went ghost under the table and barged in without a second thought, when a group of icicles pinned him to the wall in an odd position. He tried to find the culprit, but there was no glow anywhere except for him and then he saw. A girl and a boy were aiming weapons and guns at each other. They were twelve years old, aproximately. The girl had black long hair in two low ponytails, freckles on her milky white skin, amethist eyes with black eyeliner, a studded leather chocker, a black cropped top, a blue opened shirt, red tartan thigts, a red beanie and black combat boots. She was currently holding an ornamented broadsword made out of ecto-ice.

The boy had wavy black hair, slightly on the longer side, his skin had a golden tan, his eyes were the colour of turquoises. What was slightly wierd was that this kid was also wearing an opened shirt on top of a t-shirt, only his were red and green. He also wore skinny jeans, along with red sneakers and a dog tag around his neck. This kid sported a pair of twin Fenton blasters, a model Danny's parents had only on paper, which were shooting crystalized ectoplasm, aka ectocrystals. The stuff was sharp and slightly poisonous to both ghosts and humans. The halfa had learned this the hard way, when upon discovering the element Jack had literally shot his ass.

-How did you find me, Tammy?!

-Easy, Tommy. All I had to do was wait at Ralph Lauren's and I knew you'd show up sooner or later.

Danny couldn't believe it. Two more. Two more fudging ghosts from the future. He phased through the icicles and tore them from each other's throats. However, he did not sence the girl that kicked the other two in the faces, just over his own head. Both humanlies rolled backwards until they hit the walls and the ghostly landed gracefully in front of him. He hadn´t seen this greenhaired one before either. Great. Just great. Where was William when you needed him?!

-Danny!

The halfa turned to see Sam and Tucker, already coming in with wristrays charged, but lowering them when they saw it was humanlies. The girl with the red beanie shook her head as she came to and gaped at the scene.

-Hold up! YOU are DANNY?!

At this, the other two twelve year olds stared at him like he had grown a second head. He placed his fists on his hips, getting all superheroey and glaring back at them.

-Indeed I am. Who are you?

-Um... Tamara.-Said the girl in the beanie. She sheathed her sword and stood awkwardly, shuffling her feet.

-Salma.-Danny looked at the ghostly. She looked timid, but all in all kind. Her green eyes looking at him with respect.

-Yeah, yeah. And I'm Tomás Jack Fenton, now can I please go back to shopping?!

They all turned to look at the now clearly latino kid. The two little girls looked pissed, as opposed to team phantom, which gaped at him comically. Danny was sure. The kid had said Tomás JACK FENTON. Before he could voice his doubts though, slow clapping caught their attention. Behind Tucker, a ghostly kid with blue skin and blue flaming hair looked so very pissed.

-Well done, Tommy. You just told exactly who you are to the ONE GUY who shouldn't know.

-Jimmy! Where were you?! I had to intervene on my own!

-Chill, Sally.- he answered as he walked towards the warzone.-I was just checking out some instruments.

-I don't give a damn! Billy told us to stop fights together, remember? We can't do that if you run off the second you see a keyboard!

Ok, who was Billy?! People needed to stop and tell Danny what the fudge was going on! At the very least, Tammy and Tommy looked as confused as him when the name had come up. And this was actually the first team they had seen so far. Said team approached their competitors rapidly and snatched them away, phasing through the floor. Our young hero gave chase, but as soon as he got to the other side, he knew he had lost them.

strongEnd Flashback/strong

The halfa glared some more at the misterious guy in his room. He had demanded to see proof that William actually worked for the master of time, but all he got was to see the medallion, which after his attemp to snatch it away, got deeply burried inside said ghost's chest.

William sighed. Sure, he could handle the glares, but after 3 hours straight of nothing but the young halfa trying to kill him with his stare, it just got old. He grabbed his notes on the time travelers and left the room without aknowledging the other spirit, before phasing out of the house. He could go for a walk. I mean, come on, it's not like CBoss had forbidden him from going out, right? Besides, last time he went out he had had the chance to confront two of the little brats. Sally and … John? No, that's not right. Anyway! Now, those two had stopped fighting each other, so there was that. Red vapors came out of his nose and he turned around, finding the blue ghostly child whose name he didn't remember.

-Thank Pariah I found you. We need to go, now!

-Hello... you.-the younger teen glared at him.

-You forgot my name, didn't you?

-Well, I tend to, when the ghost is such a weakling. How's Sally?-He asked with a grin.

The blue boy started fuming. True, he may have underestimated said girl at first, but now he had learnt his lesson. The boy dragged the other male down the street, to an abandoned warehouse by the docks, where the greenhaired girl awaited, telekinetically holding two humanly entities tied up to each other. She smiled upon seeing the older teen and jumped to hug his neck.

-Billy! I thought I'd never see you again!

-No worries, princess. You ain't rid of me just yet.

When the hug reached the duration of 30 seconds, Jimmy cleared his throat. The other two looked at him, the young man glaring and the girl with curiosity.

-Would you please take care of this guys?

Will turned to look at the two non glowing kids on the floor. The girl with black hair, he assumed it was Tamara, eyed him up and down, analysing him, while the boy, obviously Tomás, shook in fear of what was to come. The older teen reluctantly let go of his own personal little pest and kneeled before them.

-Hello, brats. You do know you should be in your own timeline, right?

-If you suppose that this talk is going to take you anywhere, then I must inform you: you should have started with a nicer tone.

Billy chuckled. Of course Tammy would be the defiant one. Sally sat atop a wooden box, while Jimmy rested his back against a wall in exhasperation. The older ghost made a chair out of ectocrystal and sat comfortably, his eyes turning a glowing shade of red. He inspected both kids for a couple of minutes, relishing in the way the boy squirmed under his gaze.

-Be kind enough to tell me why you're here.

-To protect my future from evil impostors trying to erase me from existence.-Both kids answered.

That's when they realised. They were here for the exact same reason. The tied up kids were silent, trying to find the meaning of this, when Billy snapped his fingers and Sally dissolved the ropes tiying them down.

-You've been decieved by a ghost named Void. He has made it his task to avoid any of you. You see, this is noone's timeline. We are still in the generic one. People's choices will determine who of you is eventually born, but not yet.

-Wait.-interrupted the boy.- If we were sent here by Void, who sent you? And why do you know so much?

William smiled.-Clockwork sent me. I work for him correcting the path of time. You all need to leave here as soon as possible, but we can't do so, until we've gotten rid of that filthy red parasite.

-Then what are we supposed to do?-intervened Tammy.

-Oh, I'm glad you asked.

Billy's sinister laughter filled the warehouse, just as a flock of seagulls abandoned the wires outside.


	4. Chapter 4

Vlad interwined his fingers. He had noticed several... _oddities_ around Amity. The first he had noticed was seven portals. They were not natural, that far he knew. The young ghosts and human children that had come out of them were even wierder. He thought they looked familiar, but he couldn't place his fingers on WHY. Then, a random teenager that looked almost exactly like Daniel had shown up at Fenton Works. True, this may not have any relevance, since the boy's story checked out, but still, there was something about that boy. And the final remarkable thing were the spectral readings he had gotten. Someone was invading his manor. Only for a couple of seconds at a time, but who would dare and why? The older halfa's first guess was his adored little rival, but why would Daniel leave after just a couple of seconds? Then he thought it might be the other Dani in his life. That's right! He had entertained the thought of it beeing Danielle, but discarded the notion after reasoning it. He had literally tried to melt the girl. Why would she ever strongever/strong come back? Oddly enough, his cameras malfunctioned every time the readings spiked. He would have to look into it. Perhaps... no, it couldn't be. These seven children couldn't be related to it. Or could they?

A shiver ran down Garry's back. He knew exactly what that was. The remnants of his father's ghost sence. His newly fixed wings spread, allowing him to become airborne in an instant, avoiding the incoming blow from an icy katana. The crazy african american girl gave chase, floating behind him and thus, forcing him to speed up. He wasn't too keen on hitting a girl, but this girl was going to kill him unless he did! He faced her midair and (barfed) a fireball at her.

Ginebra yelped and protected herself with the sword and when she opened her eyes, she saw that there was only the handle left. She stared at the guy with the dragon wings and then she smacked her forehead. Of course, dragon equals fire. Fire plus ice equals water. She put away said handle and charged a Fenton Photon Gun. Garry's eyes widened in recognition. He wasn't good against that particular weapon. His adversary fired the weapon and the green boy took cover behind his arms, only the attack never reached him. He peeked through his left eye and widened them immensely when he saw who had blocked it. A brown cape had blocked the light just as the user covered it with a ghost shield to protect them from the massive blast.

-What the fright do you think you're doing, Jezzy?!-yelled the other girl.

-What part of ''we were both sent here by the same guy'' did you not get?!-retorted the caped genie.

They glared at each other for a while. Jezebel wanted nothing more than to slap this evil … nope, her mom had taught her not to use such words. In a fight they had managed to put together the fact that Void had sent them both to battle each other, and therefore, the green girl had deemed him unworthy of her trust. But apparently, the other girl had not. She was still fighting the other ghostly children like they were a pest to be rid of. If Jezzy was right, then this girl was as stubborn as her mom and that was so not a good quality right now. The wish-ghost was determined to protect the other ghosts from this girl, who failed to see reason. She didn't care if the brat had grown up with humans. She still had part ghost in herself and shouldn't harbour such hatred for her own kind. Just as Jezebel held nothing against human kind. She prepared shields and attacks, just in case, but when both girls were about to go at each other's throats, a voice interrupted.

-I'd hate to ruin your little party, but I'm still going to crash it.

The three kids looked up and saw Danny Phantom, ready to jump in at any second. Of course, when his expression changed into confusion they all followed his gaze. Just beneath all of them were the other 4 ghosts. Well, two ghostlies and two humanlies. Danny smacked the top of his head in desperation. He did not want to fight all of them now! Least of all, at the same time! He tried to come up with a plan, until he saw Ginny charge that... wierd looking Fentony gun and aim at the biggest amount of ghosts. She was going to shoot them. And if there was one thing the halfa recognized, it was murderous intent. He dashed downwards, seeing the horror stricken faces in those poor kids, realizing they knew they had no way to stop the thing that would come out of that barrel. The photons hit him. They hit him hard. A couple of foreign screams met his ears as the explosion sent him smoking towards the ground and he closed his very tired eyes in advance. Except the pavement never came. He lidded his green eyes open and saw red eyes, blue skin and horned black hair.

-You know, Daniel, if what you needed was help, you could have asked. Fighting directly atop City hall was unnecessary.

Said halfa blinked a couple of times. Vlad? City hall? He made his body invisible to glance through it and true enough, they were floating above said building. The kids were all worriedly looking at him, even the girl that had shot him. Ginny was it? Funny. A moment ago, he could have sworn he was beeing hit by Val. Several of them approached fearfully, that is, til a maniac laughter accompanied the darkening of the sky. A red, bent and caped ghost became visible, making all of the kids flinch. Danny had never seen this guy before, and apparently neither had Vlad, if his reaction was anything to go by. He swore at the mere sight, just because it was ugly as fudge.

-I did it. I finally have defeated Billy Phantom! Without Danny there's no Billy. And none of you seven whelps whatsoever!

-Isn't it a little too early to be singing victory, Lloyd?

The beings eyes, or lack there of, widened as he turned towards the ground. There he stood. William. He had some sort of crossbow ready to fire. He shot a net made out of ghost proof material, that pinned the being to the ground, as the seven ghostly children cheered the name 'Billy'. Funny. Danny had never actually seen the guy take on a ghost form either. Perhaps he was a humanly?

The whining of a fenton bazooka caught everyone's attention. They turned to see Mr. And Mrs. Fenton aiming straight up.

-Good job, Will! Not let's take down the Wisconsin ghost and the ghost boy!-yelled Jack.

The world was suddenly in slow motion for everyone. Billy ran towards Jack, two rings of light, white and black appeared at his waist, the white one going up and the black one going down. Danny gasped in horror at the sight. Black and white outfit, blue skin, white flaming hair and red eyes in a feral glare were approaching his father at full speed. Vlad tried to contain him, but his struggling made it imposible and eventually, Danny fell.

Three screaming 'No's were heard. A bazooka was fired. Everyone stood still as the smoke around the four figures dissipated. Jack sat on the floor, rubbing his scalp. What had just happened? He could have sworn he had both ghosts just where he wanted them. He looked up and a pair of red angry eyes stared back. The ghost in front of him looked kind of like the ghost child, only not quite. His hair was aflame, his skin was blue, a pair of sharp fangs growled at him, plus he looked a little older. And finally, his suit had no sleeves and instead of the DP emblem, he had a B and a P back to back, the underside of the P having somewhat of a ghostly tail. Who was this kid?

Danny struggled from his new prison in Vlad's strong shaking arms. Shaking? He looked back and saw the horror in his face. His almost death was really that frightening to the man? The young halfa remembered the reason for his jump and looked back down in a hurry. He was taken aback. That guy... he wasn't Dan. In fact, there were two gears printed on the back of his suit. The guy was sinply tearing apart the weapon instead of his father, as the teenager had initially thought. He signalled for his current support to lower them to the ground and they landed a few steps away from the blue skinned boy.

The ghostly seven were stunned. The only time they had heard of a ghost like Billy had been in his father's horror story tellings. A creature so vicious, it would kill its own family, a guy so wicked he would destroy humanity just for the kicks. Then why was a guy with that vile monster's description helping Danny? Even Void, or Lloyd, seemed baffled.

-Are you serious?! I went to all this trouble to stop you from being born and all I had to do was bring YOU to this moment? HA! You just stopped your own conception, you dimwit!

-You think I didn't know that? I was planning it all along.

They all gasped at that. Was he saying he didn't want to be born? Billy's head turned slowly as he gave Void an ice cold glare. He raised his hand and a completely black portal appeared behind the ghost.

-But no, you had to threaten my father's life.-he flew to the other ghost and punched him so hard half of his long sharp teeth cracked.-You just HAD to kidnap what could be considered my siblings!-the punches came faster and stronger until Void's face was irrecognizable.-And you even had the nerve to make them fight each other!-The halfa stepped away from his nemesis and gave him one final kick to the head before walking away.-Hell is too nice of a destination for you. Salute Pariah when you get to oblivion for me, will you?

Horrified eyes widened. The portal suddenly grew fangs, it became a throat and the obscure monster swallowed the ghost whole as he screamed. The little kids shook. They had never seen a portal to oblivion. In fact, all the descriptions they had read about the disappearance of Pariah Dark were fairytales compared to what they had just witnessed. Only imagining the size of the portal needed to take the previous ghost king down was terrifying. One of the children stepped towards Billy. Sally started to cry silently as she hugged him from behind.

-Please tell me you're not gonna die!

Danny watched silently. Had he heard right? Were all this his own children? Was the guy who looked almost exactly like Dan also his son? He stood as best he could, helped by his own nemesis and walked towards said ghost.

-If I'm right, he won't dissappear, Sally, so don't worry about that. But … William, what did Void mean, saying you stopped your own birth?

-...You getting caught by Jack Fenton would have led to it. Even if you are my father, I'm not exactly your son.

The flame haired halfa turned to look at the younger halfa's confused gaze and led them to the warehouse to tell his tale. He signaled them to take a seat and as they did, he started to speak.

-I'm an experiment conducted by Jack and Maddie Fenton. They realized ghosts could reproduce and researched that fact a little further. You see, ghostly reproduction is possible because the souls merge to a degree, producing a third soul. Thus, they wanted to try it out, but for that, they needed two ghosts. They cought you, Danny, and another one. The thing is, they had mistakenly captured another male.-the young halfa's eyes widened.-Don't worry, they did not force you two together. The thing is, the soul has no gender so in order to concieve me, they took part of your soul and … that other ghost's to mix them in a test tube. They had to make several attemps, for the first couple of times it didn't work. Thus, you both... somewhat lost your minds.

''You were kept in the lab as complex lab rats and after a couple of months, my body was developed enough to 'be born'. It was quite the shock for them when I was born human. Of course, given their 'morality', they couldn't experiment on a subject from their own species, so instead, they adopted me. I looked enough like their 'missing son' to pass me as their own. I grew up somewhat normally, that is, until I was five years old and I phased through the lab door. It was completely by accident, I had tripped on my shoelaces. But what I found was so thrilling. I could walk through walls!

''I wandered deeper into the lab, which had always been locked and I saw this two ghosts. One was constantly walking against the wall in the back of his cell, almost like he was in a trance. And the other... the other was curled up in a corner, a low wail emanating from him. That was my first encounter with you, Danny. I touched the greenish transparent wall separating me from you and a shock of electricity shoved me back. This is where it gets kinda blurry, you see: at some point I realized that the sound of the smacking and the wail had stopped and I raised my eyes to look at you. You both were staring right back.

''It somehow clicked in your hazy minds that I was your child and you crawled towards me, Danny. Somehow, you found enough sanity to warn me about the ghost shield, how it would hurt me, and you also warned me about everything in the lab. Told me how all that stuff was dangerous and I should go away as soon as I could. At that time, I didn't realize it, but you were actually telling me to run away from the Fentons. I ran from the lab, but my curiosity got the better of me and after about a week, I went back.

''That time, the other ghost was strapped to a table, his chest open like a frog's in biology class. Of course, I didn't recognize what that meant at the time. I saw him breathing and quiet and to me, that meant he was sleeping. I had somehow figured that you'd be hungry and had taken some snacks with me this time. I figured ghosts and people couldn't go through the green wall, but those were alive. So what about an apple? I rolled the apple towards your curled form and it hit your foot. Boy, you should have seen your face when you saw the food. Your eyes shone, your mouth watered. You started saying that it was an illusion. A mirage. I laughed. You raised your eyes towards mine and I told you to eat it. You started crying. I was so shocked I could barely react when you threw yourself at the fruit. From that day on, I started bringing you both food, telling you about my day at school, about my friends and the stuff that happened to me that had a relation to ghosts. You'd listen intently, commenting on it at the end. In fact, one day you told me I was half ghost. That's when I started wondering. If I was half ghost, or as you had called it, a halfa, then wouldn't that mean I had a ghost form too?

''I practiced every day for about a month and then it happened. One day, as I concentrated on what you had told me was my core, two rings of light surrounded my waist and when I opened my eyes I was a ghost. I was so happy I returned to being human and ran to the lab to show you. You were expectant when I told you. Smiled as the rings of light appeared.- William closed his eyes and looked away.-That's when it all went to hell. You started screaming. 'Get that monster away from me' you'd say. I didn't understand back then. You had been so nice. I was so confused. I went back to human to get you to stop screaming, but you didn't stop. The Fentons barged into the lab. They heard you. They saw me. They sent me to my room and I went without a second thought. But you see, when I was gone, they deduced that even if I was human, I had ghost powers. And that … made me worth studying.

''They had grown so attached to me it took them a couple of weeks, but in the end, Maddie led me to the lab. You both watched in horror as your child unknowingly but willingly sat on the disection table, not even aware of his fate. It wasn't until Jack grabbed the scalpel that you smashed yourself against the shield. The other ghost also started attacking his cage. I watched you scared. I had never seen you that violent. You were actually hurting yourselves in you attempt to break free. And I was so focused on you I never saw the knife in Maddie's hand. You screamed. Your wail made us all cover our ears, but it managed to shatter both ghost shields. The other ghost attacked Jack, while you pushed Maddie away from me. You grabbed me, held me with your cold arms and ran for the closed portal at the back of the lab. I watched over your shoulder as Jack shot the other ghost until he was nothing but a pile of green goo and Maddie stood, fenton bazooka in hand, aiming it at us. She shot you in the back, you held me to protect me. The blast had shoved us right next to the key that would open the portal and you reached for it. That's when Maddie spoke. She said the portal would only open if it recognized Fenton DNA and you should stop trying and accept your fate. You chuckled. I didn't know it back then, but she had shattered half of your core. You were already dying. You stood, still holding me, coughing green blood with specks of red and then you said it. 'Then you are in for one hell of a surprise.' You placed your hand on the palm scanner and the portal opened, greeting Danny. Maddie and Jack stopped in their advance at that, and you took the oportunity to wish me well, throw me into the portal and destroy it.

The people around William watched him with a turmoil of feelings. He sure had a back story. Danny gulped. So if this kid hadn't attacked his dad a few minutes ago... he would be as good as dead? Vlad shuddered at the notion. But something was amiss.

-Where was I, William? I'm sure if that had taken place, The babling baboon would have told me about the capture. And there's no way I would have left Daniel in that place.

-You mean you haven't figured it out? My clock! You guys are slow.

Danny and Vlad blinked and the kids around them giggled or snorted or chuckled, depending on their personality. Danny then looked around. This were all his kids. One kinda resembled Ember, the next had dragon wings, clearly stating that his mom was princess Dora, the third he had met looked a lot like Desiree and the last ghostly kid kinda looked like Kitty, Johnny 13's girlfriend. All those mothers were ghosts. He then looked at the more human kids. The african american girl with a grudge was probably Valerie's daughter, while the latino kid reminded him of Paulina, and lastly, the girl with the amethist eyes. There was only one girl he knew who had those eyes. Sam. Then it clicked. The children with ghost mothers were ghostly and the kids with human moms looked more like human. So if Billy was a halfa and the other ghost was male, the that would mean …

-Noooooo. That's why you look so much like Dan Plasmius?!

-Who?-asked Vlad.

-Finally! He'll possibly tell you later. Yes, my other parent was Vlad.

Danny was disgusted. Good thing his parents hadn't thought of forcing the conception the natural way. A shudder run along his spine. He actually took a step away from the older halfa at that thought. Vlad, on the other hand, was baffled. He had a son, in a twisted way, but a son whatsoever. And his son had stopped his own conception to … protect his parents from such a horrible fate? He was moved. So moved in fact, that tears started to run down his face and he hugged the frame of his seventeen year old son. The son he never had and now never would. Danny watched from afar, understanding what was going through the man's mind. He finally had a halfa son and was about to lose him again. The youngest halfa noticed the uncomfortable look on Billy's face and smiled. Yep, this guy was deffinitely nothing like Dan. Then, Jimmy took a step forward and asked him what had happened next, and although Vlad didn't notice it as he let go of the older teenager, the musician had had a clear intention to cut through the awkwardness in the warehouse.

-Well, after I saw that the portal I had been shoved into wasn't there anymore, I just floated there.-everyone stared.- What? I was Five! So anyway, I cried there for hours, maybe even a day, the ghosts passing by me and watching as if I were something odd. Then at some point, I felt a hand on my shoulder and when I looked up, there was this blue ghost with a purple cape and a gandpa clock in his chest. He intoduced himself as Clockwork and told me I could live with him in his tower. He also told me he'd teach me all there was to know about ghosts and the ghost zone, said I was meant for greatness.

''I learned about all he taught me. Eventually he started teaching me about time stream and said that perhaps one day I could help him in his work. He really should have seen it coming when I used what he had taught me to learn how I had been created and what had happened to my biological parents, who they had been, what had been taken from them when the Fentons captured them. He also should have seen it coming when I went for the dented thermos in the back room-Danny gasped- Oh, don't worry. As soon as I opened it, Dan laughed maniacly, screaming his plans to destroy your family to the world, but when I said he should tear the Fentons slowly apart he looked at me and stared. He stared at me for a good half an hour. And when Clockwork finally showed up, Dan asked him who had created this abomination. I was offended to say the least, and beat the crap out of him before putting him back in the thermos.

-Hold on, you wanted my parents DEAD?!

-Hey! I was twelve and I witnessed my adoptive parents, who were actually my grandparents, kill both my fathers! That leaves scars! And it took me a lot of therapy with Spectra to grow out of it! Now, as I was saying: Clockwork was impressed with my display of strength, me being twelve and all. So he decided to give me a job as his assistant. And I eventually … let go of my desires for revenge. And that's about it. In a couple of minutes, CBoss is coming and collecting me, just like he collects all the ghosts that exist without a timeline.

Silence filled the room. Of course no one knew what to say, the guy had the saddest background they had ever heard. Sally went and hugged him again, along with Vlad, Jezzy and Tammy. Danny sighed. He looked at the scene and joined the hug semi reluctantly.

-Aaawww. Now I feel bad about taking you away, Pocketwatch!

They all turned around in shock. A chick with flaming green hair, green eyes and white skin, dressed in a leathery catsuit with a corset and silver boots, who had a violin strapped to her back watched them all from afar, sitting in midair.

-H...Hamelin?! What are you doing here?!

-Well, CBoss wanted to make sure you hadn't stopped your own conception or something.

The girl jumped as if she were sitting on a chair and landed gracefully before walking up to the flaming haired halfa and … shoving her tongue down his throat. Everyone was taken aback. He absolutely hadn't mentioned a girlfriend. Least of all a ghostly one. They saw his initial shock pass and his strong arms wrapping around her waist. The makeout session lasted... a lot. It was starting to get uncomfortable for Danny. Luckily, it didn't take that much longer for the couple to separate. The girl, Hamelin frowned and hit him over the head.

-I told you not to be the hero! I'd rather have a selfish and alive boyfriend than a hero that ends up dead!

-Well what was I supposed to do, watch as my parents' lifes are ruined?!

-YES!

-I didn't want that! See?! You got your wish! A selfish boyfriend that would rather die before seeing his parents get killed!

The green haired teenager slapped him. She refused to cry for this idiot! She turned away from him and grabbed the ghostly equivalent for a fenton phone. She spoke in some wierd language Danny didn't understand and before he knew it, Clockwork was floating between him and William. The master of time sighed.

-Why is it that with you, I never see what you're going to do before you do it?

The halfa huffed and crossed his arms looking away. It wasn't like he had destroyed the world. His boss sighed again. He looked towards the alternate seven briefly, before aknowledging the original halfas.

-I'm really sorry you had to go through that, Daniel. I'm sure it must have been quite confusing.

-Oh, don't worry about it. Time travelers. Am I right?-he asked lifting an amused eyebrow.

The master of time smiled and opened seven portals behind him, before exclaiming that 'their child' was on their side of the portal. The two halfas stared in quite a bit of shock as apparently the mothers of the children stuck their heads through the green gas. The first one to run towards her child was a 33 year old Paulina, who ran towards Tomás and smothered him between her arms.

-Tommy, mi cielo! I thought I lost you forever!

-Mamá... can't breathe...

When the more cautious mothers saw that there was no danger, they walked through and Danny was able to recognize... all of them. Ember, Kitty, Dorathea, Desiree, Valerie and Sam. He swallowed a knot in his throat. Were all of these women... married to him? The rock ghost walked up to Jimmy. She took the keytar from him and smashed it against the ground. The boy started shouting obsenities at the blue haired woman, until a new green keytar materialized in her hand.

-Don't you ever, EVER, accept things from a stanger. Least of all someone looking so twisted.

The boy just nodded his head, taking the instrument from his mother's hand and placing it behind his back. Then, just as fast as it had appeared, her frown turned to worry and she held her son close to her.

Danny noticed how all the children and their mothers joined. Sally ran to Kitty, Tammy walked towards Sam, Jezzy and Desiree met half way, Ginny and Valerie hugged without words and lastly, Garret bowed to his mother, before she snatched him up and twirled a couple of times in joy of finally finding her son. This earned a few laughs and the green skinned boy blushed in embarrasment.

It was then that all of the older women looked back at the young halfa. He gulped. Then a mischievous smile took over Desiree's features.

-My, my. This brings back memories.

-Tell me about it! How are you, baby pop?

-Besides beaten up.-Added Sam with a smirk.

-Yeah, what hit you? Photon ray?-Asked Kitty.

-Gee, I wonder how THAT could have happened.-Said Valerie narrowing her eyes at her own daughter, who shied away blushing.

-Hey! He got in the way! I was trying to shoot the others!

The other mothers turned slowly to stare (dangerously) at the young dark skinned girl. But before they could do anything, Hamelin stepped up.

-Lay down your guns, ladies! She's just a child!

Ember stared taken aback. Who was this girl?! That green hair kinda reminded her of...

-Please tell me I don't marry SKULKER of all ghosts where you're from.

A snort was heard from William.-Tell her your brother's name is Hunter!

The rock star's undignified shriek cut all possible tension that had existed in the room. So much so, that all of them had forgotten about Billy's fate until he himself brought it up, asking the time master how much he had left. The women looked confused until their children explained his predicament. They watched on in respect and thankfulness as the all knowing ghost told him that the time to go was fastly approaching.

-Can't he stay?-Everyone turned to look at Vlad.-I mean, sure, it's a time paradox, but you are the most powerful ghost there is, Clockwork.

They all gaped at him. Specially Billy Pocketwatch and Hamelin Bell. They both opened their mouths to retort, however, they were interrupted.

-Actually... there is something we could do.


	5. Chapter 5

Ok, so the plan was as following. William would stay in Amity Park with Vlad until the moment of his birth, wich would be a year ahead aproximately, and get his clock turned backwards until he was a newly born baby. Then, Vlad would say that someone put the kid on his doorstep and adopt him. That way, the kid would have a birth certificate and a real dad from day one. His memories would be nonexistent. That way, Billy would have a somewhat normal life.

Of course, Danny still worried. Would Vlad teach this kid to be his evil apprentice? He couldn't allow it. No son of his was going to evil. Which brings us to the current discussion. Billy sat comfortably on one of the older halfa's high class couches placed in the secret lab looking on amused while Danny glared at Vlad with his arms crossed and the Mayor glared right back.

-Daniel, you are too young to raise a child. I will not put you through that.

-Still, I don't want Will to be raised by a crazed up fruitloop. Who knows what you'll teach him!

-Oh, please! As if he would be safer in your home, growing up trying not to be discovered by your parents!

-Don't drag them into this, Vlad!

-You know perfectly well what they would do, Daniel. William himself is proof of that!

-And Danielle is proof of your education!

-You know, for straight men, you two act like a married couple.

Both halfas tensed and turned slowly to look at their son. Who had apparently ignored the whole conversation. Or at least the part where they mentioned the Fentons.

-Billy

-Yeah dad?

-Don't EVER say that again.

-And for once we agree.

The 17 year old only laughed at their disgusted faced. How could he not: they had even stepped away from each other, realising they were too close. He stood and stretched.

-You could always come check up on me, Danny. Take me out for a walk and stuff. Besides, who said Vlad would be the only one teaching me? You could teach me ecto-ice control and there's always Clockwork!

The youngest halfa seemed to meditate this. Seeing Will regularly would imply seeing the fruitloop more often. Then again, that didn't necessarily mean they had to fight. But how to ensure that Vlad would follow through on the deal?

-Ok. I will alow it. On one condition. You will sign a contract with me, Plasmius. A valid one in both, the human and the ghost zone.

-You still don't trust me, Daniel?

The latter just glared. Vlad sighed. The thing with the contract would be the only way to keep the young halfa from kidnapping his own son, wouldn't it? Just perfect. The silver haired man snapped his fingers and told the vulture that showed up to get Ghostwriter. Until they could convince Walker to free him for the Christmas fiasco they would have to wait. For all they knew, it could take a year. If not more.

Billy took this oportunity to look around. Last few times he had been here, it had been for a mere second and just to make sure Vlad was ok. He might have accidentally shown up on scanners and ghost detecting devices, but Vlad hadn't mentioned those at all. True, that could mean the man had already figured it out upon seeing how the devices recorded his ectosignature.

The young time traveler turned a corner and found... a dead end. Dead end? Why would there be a dead end in a mansion?! Unless... this wasn't a dead end at all. The owner of this mansion was after all half ghost, which meant he could walk through walls and that meant dead ends were never dead for the dead. Huh? William sometimes hated the way his mind worked. He turned his head intangible and looked past the wall. There it was. Vlad's secret … study? Funny, Bill always thought the secret part would be the lab. He walked inside, disregarding the bickering he heard in the distance. Books covered all of the back wall, the massive library's theme consisting on genetics, ghosts, the study of substances and did he see a first edition of 'On the origin of species' by Charles Darwin? The green tome with golden details claimed his attention. He walked towards it and carefully picked it up. He realized it had barely been opened, consistent with it being such a valuable object, and thus deciding to put it back where it belonged. He turned again, staring at the top of the ebony desk, finding it neatly organized. On one side was a laptop, the desktop lined with digital copies of the books behind it; while on the other side was a pile of neatly hand written papers.

-Odd. Why would dad have hand written papers when he can type on the computer?

-That's because those are drafts, William.

A shriek made its way through his throat as Billy looked up, seeing both his parents. One looking at him with some sort of annoyance and the other looking around amazed. Apparently it was Danny's first visit to this room too.

-Wow, Vlad. To have a secret room in a secret room. You must be a real piece of work up there.

The older halfa sighed.-It's not paranoia if the secret room in the secret room gets found, little badger.

-Oh, what. Now you gonna put a secret room in the secret room that's inside a secret room? Fruitloop.

-Sorry dad. I was just looking around. What are these drafts for, anyway? I'm curious.

Vlad transported himself next to his yet unborn son and picked up the papers. He looked through them and handed the seventeen year old a specific one.

-''Halfa biology and how to treat the new species'' by Vladimir I. Masters?

-That's right, William. If the new breed is going to reproduce, which after the last week we know is a fact, then we'll need to learn every difference halfas have with humans and ghosts. And we need to discern between general halfa characteristics from individual ones. For example: while my temperature is greatly above the average for a human being, Daniel's is far below it.

-Hey! How do you know my temperature is below the normal!

-Daniel, has noone ever told you that you are the equivalent of a walking fridge?

At this point, the younger halfa was onto the paper too, blushing madly at the accusation, while the not quite born yet halfa smirked in his direction.

-Now that you know I've been collecting data on halfas, will you kindly accompany me to the medical wing of my lab and provide the information willingly?

-I dunno, Vlad.- the young halfa squinted his eyes at him in mistrust.-Can you asure me you won't use this information against me?

-You seem to be implying that I will continue to scheme against you, but worry not, little badger. I already have the perfect halfa son, thanks to your careless parents.

The original halfas glared at each other. Their son just munched on popcorn, watching it all play out. He usually just bothered Danny, 'cause let's face it: annoying his younger parent was hillarious. He'd sneak up on him at school, he'd make faces only ectoplasmic entities could see on the back of Lancer's head, making stuff invisible remotely so Danny would trip and stuff like that. But seeing his parents behaving like little kids arguing over candy was just too good. Of course, now that there was virtually no reason to be evil, V-dad was trying to get D-dad to cooperate so they could finally get basic halfa health information. Billy could see the logic in that. They'd need the info for when he was a child and didn't remember his own norm. And yet he couldn't bring himself to stop the fight. If aunt Jazz were here, she'd probably say he was just stalling because he liked seeing his parents interacting, even if it was a fight.

… Ok, enough was enough. He was not some crybaby nor a corny little sadsack. Ignoring the heat on his cheeks he cleared his throat.

-Danny, he's not going to use it against you. Besides, think of the perks of having someone with medical experience and actual equipment ready to treat you and having your basic information so that he can check what's wrong! Daddy-o here just wants our safety, even if he's too much of a fruitloop to phrase it correctly.

Danny smirked while Vlad gave the accustomed yell 'I'm not a fruitloop'. After mocking the grown up a little more, the 14 year old agreed to let said man scan his vitals. Billy had made an excelent point after all.


	6. Chapter 6 - Epilogue

Epilogue

Ten months had come to pass and the day to turn back the clock had finally arrived. The people involved were at the abandoned warehouse prepping everything they needed. Hamelin was positioning 18 pocket watches in an octadecagonal shape, while Billy drew lines in chalk connecting said watches, avoiding the center. Meanwhile, Danny and Vlad would light 18 black and 18 red candles on specific points around the room, drawing a circle with them. Clockwork placed pillows at the center of the octadecagon, just to make sure the baby wouldn't hurt himself when he fell from Billy's height, while the humans waited for the rest to finish preparations.

Jazz and Sam waited patiently. Clockwork had said they needed equal amount of humans, halfas and ghosts, as well as equal amount of men and women. That's why Tucker had had to stay behind, considering the ritual had to be performed in solitude. William traced the last one of the 128 lines that made up the magic circle and dried a drop of sweat from his frow with his wristband.

-Done! Hamy, are all the clocks set at 3:52?

-Yeah! With 34 seconds.

-Why is that time important?-Asked Danny.

-That's my time of birth.

-Ok, if everything is ready, then Pocketwatch, you should go stand at the center. Daniel, Vladimir, you two should be on opposite ends at twelve and six. Jazmin, Sama-the goth glared-... Sam: you two will stand on the third watch to their right. Bell, you know where to stand, I'll be across from you, between Sammmmmm and Vladimir.

They positioned themselves, not before Hamelin flew to her boyfriend to give him one last kiss.

-If you don't look for me, imma mess you up, you hear me?

-Don't worry, I will. I also made sure dad and daddy understood when to take me into the ghost zone so I could mess up your recital.

She smirked and punched his shoulder. She floated back to her spot between the Fenton siblings and started conjuring along with Clockwork. They chanted the incantation in time language, making the chalk glow etherealy from the lit candles to the middle. When the glow reached the center, the fire in the red candles turned black, just as the fire in the black candles turned white. Clockwork raised his staff and stabbed the circle, causing the glow to creep up William's legs and he smiled softly.

-See you later, people.

The glow took over his face and his frame started to shrink. They all watched in wonder as the glow completely took over his body, turning him into a figure of light. No features, no sounds. Just a bright sun in the middle of the circle. And then it dispelled. They had to shut their eyes as the flash hit, slowly opening them again when the chanting stopped. Vlad watched as the figure in the circle was now nothing more than a small baby with skin never touched by the sun and hair as dark as the night itself. The baby slowly descended onto the pillows and his former clothes, making Vlad release a breath he didn't know he was holding. He looked towards the master of time, who only nodded reasuringly and the oldest halfa walked to the bundle of fabric in the middle of the room. He picked up the baby carefully and smiled honestly, without another emotion besides bliss, for the first time in decades.

-Welcome, William. My son.

A few years later:

-Happy birthday, Bill!

The twelve year old jumped in the air, hovering for like a second before realizing who had yelled and letting himself fall to the ground.

-Damnit, uncle D. You know I don't really like surprises!

-I know, Billy. I just couldn't help myself. It's so hard to sneak up on you!

It was a little wierd calling him uncle, considering the first few years of his life he had thought of Danny as his other dad. But a couple of years ago he had realized it was imposible, considering his age, Vlad's age and the fact that Danny had married Sam when they graduated college. There was no chance in hell his uncle was in a relationship with his dad. It even seemed to disgust both parties when he had suggested it when he was five. No. the younger halfa was simply the greatest most concearned uncle in the universe. He grinned despite his thoughts.

-Ok, so where's my present? Dad got me a new ghostly suit. Hope you can top that.

He saw Danny smirk and shake his head. This rivalry had started because of his father, always trying to top every gift he got, only to be utterly defeated when his uncle got him the best memories. He still remembered when he was snatched away from his dad and taken on a trip across the night sky when he was eight. That day had been amazing.

It's not that he didn't like the presents his dad got him, he did! But when your father is the most influential billionaire in the country, stuff gets old really fast. And Bill was sure his uncle counted on that to give him once in a lifetime experiences. In fact, he wondered what he'd come up with this time.

-Oh. You've been waiting for this for years. Remember that time you found out about your ghostly powers? I seem to recall you asking where all the ghosts were.

-... wait, what?-Danny wasn't hinting at what he thought he was hinting at, right?

-And I seem to recall saying that me and your dad would take you to meet the ghosts when you were older.

-You can't be serious. Really?!

-That's right, Billyboy. You, your dad and I are going -He revealed a slashed portal ripping apart the dimension- into the Ghost Zone!

The birthday boy was beside himself in exitement. The Ghost Zone! The realm where the dead walked! The other side of the coin of his own personal currency! He was finally going to see it! Hell, he might even meet his long lost friend, Youngblood. He was guided towards the shredded fabric of the mortal realm and the three changed into their ghostly counterparts.

Upon arrival, the boy was completely mute. The green swirls of ectoplasm sprinkled with violet doors and windows took his breath away. He watched as glowing people flew around chatting, a couple of ghostly kids playing on a floating island and was that a ghostly giant dog talking to his uncle in esperanto? The giant waved grinning and started running in the other direction, leaving them alone.

-Wulf says to call him when we are ready to go back.

-So what are we doing now?

-Well, there is this recital held by Ember McLain. She's pretty good when she's not trying to take over the city. What do you think, Vlad?

-I'm thinking you should take William while I pay a visit to my allies. Wouldn't want them to mistake us for unfriendly.

-You sure? It's your son's birthday after all.

-Indeed it is, but I can have him all to myself when we get back home. Don't hesitate to call shall anything go awry. Ta.

Vlad used teletransportation, shocking the wits out of his son. Danny, on the other hand, just shook his head motioning for Billy to follow him. They flew calmly towards what looked to be a stadium, a long line of ghosts serpenting towards the entrance. Suddenly a ghost shrieked.

-It's Phantom!-All the other specters turned in horror at the mention of his name and Billy had to wonder how terrifying might his uncle be if the ghosts shrieked at his sight.

-Take it easy, fellas! As long as you are not interfering with the life of mortals, he doesn't care.

A ghostly woman with green hair made her way towards them. She had red eyes, dreads and wore a red outfit. She greeted Danny like an old friend and then she glanced down at the boy with the flaming white hair.

-So this is Billy Plasmius. Rumours say you are training him, ghost boy.- Said halfa blushed at the old nickname.

-Well, I don't expect him to follow my steps. I'm just teaching him how to control his powers in case he needs them. We came to celebrate his birthday.

-Oh, I see. Say, Billy: did you come to watch the show?

-Um, yeah. Miss...

-Oh, call me Kitty. Here, follow me, you two.

The two halfas followed her towards the entrance, the ghosts making way for them. Some in fear, some in respect. The youngest in the group wondered about that. Was this lady feared? She didn't strike him as much. Then again, daddy(I mean, Danny) always said not to be fooled by appearances. Particularly his own. One time, he had gone trick or treating with his classmates and the older kids had made fun of their costumes, stealing their candy because ''they weren't frightening enough''. He had stayed behind, transformed and spooked the older kids so much with the fangs, the red eyes and the flaming hair they had literally shat themselves. That didn't mean he was strong, though.

They reached a backstage door leading towards the VIP sector. Danny fussing over it, saying they could wait in line like the rest, only to be shushed by Kitty, saying Vlad had made sure everything went acording to his expectations.

They stayed there for the show, albeit reluctantly from Danny's part, and left once it was over. He had been right. That Ember was actually pretty good. But what had really captivated him was the other performer. A ghostly girl playing the violin. She had only played for a bit and had recieved something like a glare from the older musician upon doing a goosebumping solo. Billy jumped down the stairs, dodged people, snuck into backstage and went looking for this angelic girl. He heard a violin and followed it, almost enchanted. He reached a door with an ornamented H engraved, waiting no second to knock on it. the music stopped, firey green hair and toxic green eyes greeting him from the other side.

-HI!

-If you're looking for Ember, she's in the room next door.-the girl was about to close the door on his face.

-No! I … was actually looking for you.-At this the girl's eyes widened.

-Really? You … like my music?

-I find it hipnotizing.-The girl smiled with her purple lips.-Name's William. What's yours?-and just like that, it vanished again.

Danny ran through the hallways from backstage. Billy had just run like a madman and now he had lost him. Ghosts. If Vlad heard about this he was so fully dead. Vlad was more the mother hen and Danny did NOT want to learn what the older halfa would do to him if he lost their child. He saw firey blue hair and sighed.

-Ember!-The guitarrist turned around, her hair a little bigger.-Have you seen a kid with flaming white hair?

-Oh? You lose your son, dipstick?-she asked with a smirk.

-I got no time for your teasing. Vlad's going to make me full ghost if I don't find him. Please! This is your lair, you know it like the back of your hand!

-Ok, chill. Geez, babypop. You freak out more than Skulker when he accidentally trapped Hamelin once. Now, let's see.

She looked to one side and then the other, before guiding the nervous halfa around. A couple of turns later they heard a crash. They ran towards the sound and stopped abruptly when they found the source. A girl with green hair in a raging flame was using her violin to make a boy with dimming hair slam himself over and over against a wall. She was screaming at him.

-How dare you NOT KNOW MY NAME?!

Miles away, on a tower drowned in the sounds of ticking, a caped ghost with blue skin smiled at the scene.

-Guess he did make the same mistake twice. Go figure.


End file.
